Sport week
Rivals Manchester City and
Liverpool cross swords in
the season curtain-raiser
Your ultimate guide to the best of the week’s live action
Community
Shield
The new football season begins
this week with the traditional
FA Community Shield
curtain-raiser at Wembley
Stadium on Sunday.
Because Pep Guardiola’s
Manchester City side won the
Premier League and FA Cup
last season (as part of the club’s
historic domestic treble), their
opponents will be Jürgen
Klopp’s Liverpool, who ran
City so close to the title.
The match promises to be a
thrilling encounter between the
two sides currently dominating
English football as they prepare
to do battle again over the
coming season.
City edged past Liverpool in
one of the most fiercly contested
title races in history last season,
with the Reds achieving a
club-record total of 97 points
(the third highest in Premier
League history) – only to finish
one point behind the champions.City lifted the Community
Shield last season when Sergio
Agüero scored twice as they
beat Chelsea 2-0. This year,
their formidable squad
has been boosted by the
£62.8million signing of Spain
midfielder Rodri from Atlético
Madrid, a fee that surpasses
City’s previous club record
of £60million in signing Riyad
Mahrez in 2018.
Rodri will wear the No.16 shirt
for City, the same number worn
by Agüero when he first moved
to the Etihad from Atlético.GAME PLAN
Meanwhile, Liverpool look set
to stick with the set of players
who claimed the European Cup
for a sixth time in June when
they defeated Spurs in Madrid- though Jürgen Klopp will
be hoping that England
midfielders Alex Oxlade-
Chamberlain and Adam
Lallana get more game time
after both missed large parts
of last season through injury.
Klopp has already identified
City as Liverpool’s biggest rivals
once again this season, and will
be looking to gain an early
psychological advantage
with victory on Sunday.
‘The greed and determination
that City showed last season
was impressive,’ he says. ‘It is
already clear that they are the
big favourites again, but it
would be great if we could
get round them.’
LIVE FOOTBAL L
Sunday, BT Sport 1 HD, kick-off 3pmManchester City’s
Sergio Agüero
Manchester City
lifted the Community
Shield last year